TORONTO – The superheroes in Disney’s latest animated feature Big Hero 6 have already captured the hearts of many, soaring into the top spot at the weekend box office.
And although the movie’s main character “Baymax” – a huggable, inflatable robot – appears to be made entirely of Disney magic, the robot is actually inspired by high-tech research at Carnegie Mellon University.
Baymax’s cuddly design was modeled after an inflatable robotic arm designed by researchers in the university’s soft robotics lab, which director Chris Hall visited while doing early research for the Marvel comic-inspired film.
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The robotic arm was designed by Carnegie Mellon student Siddharth Sanan during his Ph.D. thesis research. The vinyl-covered arm was designed to be used in the health care field, as an assistant to a doctor or nurse.
“He had me at vinyl. This particular researcher went into this long pitch but the minute he showed me that inflatable arm I knew we had our huggable robot,” said Hall in an interview with Moviefone in July.
Soft robotics is becoming an increasingly popular area of research. The robots, which can be built using materials like fabric, balloons and light plastics, are lower-cost than traditional metal robots and are believed to be safer when operating around people, according to Carnegie Mellon.
Researchers believe soft robotics will be most helpful in the health care field.
Baymax’s character embodies that role too – depicted as a care-giver who develops a close relationship with the young boy in the story named Hiro.
“The movie is a tremendous win for soft robotics,” said Chris Atkeson, professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon in a press release.
“I think this movie will be inspirational for a lot of people.”
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